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THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

OR 

THE LEGEND OF 
STARVED ROCK 

A TALE OF ILLINOIS 

BY 
W. N. ROUNDY 




CHICAGO 
1916 



5^^ 






Copyright 

by 

THE AUTHOR 

1916 
All Rights Reserved 



/ 



MAY -3 1917 



500 copies of this Legend printed 

the 28th day of July, 1916. 

by Hack & Anderson 



CLA-i67251 

1k^ 1 ^ 



DEDICATED 

to the 

MEMORY 

of 

PONTIAC 
A Man of Vision 



The Last of The Illini or 

The Legend of 

The Starved Rock 



PRELUDE. 

The story that I fain would fashion, 
Is a legend of the Indians; 
Floated down from misty ages, 
From the twilight times long vanished. 
When the copper colored Redmen 
Roamed in pride these vast prairies, — 
Free and careless as the eagles ; 
Wild as storm-clouds in a tempest; 
Happy like all things unfettered. 

'Tis of old times that I tell you : 
Of the days when all these regions 
Scarcely knew a white man's footprint; 
When the panther, deer and bison 
Shared these meadows, plains and wood- 
lands 
With the wild and wandering tribesmen— 
The Kickapoos, the Sacs and Foxes; 
The Ottawas and Pottawatomies : 
Last of all and of all greatest. 
The ruling nation, the lUini; — 
*Tis the latter and their death-song 
Makes the burden of my story. 



Canto I 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINL 

Canto I. 

1. 

From the Wabash far to westward, 
To the lordly Mississippi; 
From the Ohio far to northward. 
To the pine lands of Wisconsin, 
Roamed of olden the lUini; 
O'er the prairies hunted bison; 
Chased the antelope and red deer; 
Caught the mink, muskrat and beaver; 
Held their festivals and corn dance; 
Danced their scalp dance and their sun 

dance; 
Made themselves as glad as might be; 
Called these limitless prairies 
Homeland — saying they were given 
By their Father — the Great Spirit. 



Men alone are strong and mighty. 
Who forever toil and struggle; 
Action maketh Gods and Freemen; 
Sloth is but the sire of cowards. 



10 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

3. 

In their early days of glory 
Strove in labor the Illini; 
Followed hunting for subsistence; 
Played at ball for sport and pastime; 
Went to war because they loved it. 
All things would they do and suffer, 
That could make them still more rugged. 
In the autumn they made journeys, 
Southward to the Smoky Mountains, 
Over many broad swift rivers. 
Past the country of green meadows. 
Past the salt springs and the deer licks. 
To the country of the Choctows, 
There to buy or trade for pottery; 



In the springtime, oft a party. 
Made of picked and eager young men, 
Restless for some far adventure. 
Would in light canoes of birch bark. 
Push far up the Mississippi, 
Then into the clear Wisconsin, 
Next by portage to the Green Bay, 
They would reach Lake Michigamia, 
Whose blue waters and cool breezes. 
Wooed them ever hither, thither. 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 11 

To explore the world and find them 
Fairer facts to fit their Fancies — 
Hardy youths must still be dreamers. 
Whether north or south they paddled, 
On the great vast waste of waters, 
Always their home route was ever 
By the dull Checagou river. 
When by portage to the Des Plaines, 
Down they floated to their village. 
Not disputeless were these journeys — 
Rather would it often happen. 
Every camp ground showed fierce fighting; 
Every portage heard wild war-whoops. 

Thus they spent the speeding seasons ; 

Ever growing strong by action. 

Molding still their hearts to hardships, 

And by fiercest of adventures, 

Making good to sight of nations. 

The meaning of their chosen race-name, 

The mini — first of all men. 

But at length came years of plenty; 

On the fertile river bottoms. 

Waved for miles the yellow corn fields. 

Lifting proudly their full bounty. 

Waiting for the time of harvest. 

When the squaws with willow baskets. 



12 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

Came to pluck the ears full ripened. 
Game and fish leaped all around them; 
From the chase and from their trapping. 
Still the hunters came full handed, 
While the fishers in the river 
Found it tiresome to bring homeward, 
All the strings of pike and catfish; 
Having more than what they needed. 
They f orebore their restless striving. 
Satisfied with mere enjoyment — 
Then they revelled and they feasted : 
They reclined beneath the shade trees. 
Telling tales to one another; 
While at eve by gleam of camp fire, 
They would sit beneath the twilight. 
With sparkling eyes and swelling bosoms, 
Harkening ancient deeds of valor. 

7. 

While at ease lived the lUini, 
Midst their game and corn in plenty, 
To the East and West and Northward, 
Hungry eyes watched their good fortune. 
Hungry ears drank in their f eastings. 
Parched lips kept repeating over: 
All good things are overflowing. 
In the land of the Illini! 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 13 

Like a fire before the West wind, 
Spread the news of their abundance: 
Swiftly came Earth's word in answer. 
From the East, the fierce Five Nations, 
Making war upon the Hurons, 
On the Shawnees and Miamis, 
Finding: that their store of deer meat. 
Was becoming low and lower. 
Would say simply: We are victors, 
Let us push a little farther, 
To the land of the Illini, 
There all things are waiting for us! 



From the dark woods of Wisconsin, 
After cold and rugged winters. 
Came the gaunt-eyed Winnebagoes, 
Fierce as wolves with spur of hunger. 
To the land of the Illini; 
Giving war-whoops as their payment. 
For their gracious entertainment; 
With perchance a flight of arrows. 
Or swift blows from heavy war-clubs; 
Leaving groans of dead and dying. 
As their gifts to the Illini, 
For the corn-meal and the deer meat. 



14 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

8. 

Thus from many different nations, 
Came unceasing: feud and forage, 
As Earth's answer to their fortune. 
Though at first they fought and conquered, 
Beating back the roving strangers. 
Who would rob them of their plenty; 
Yet more oft, the fierce invaders, 
Left red marks of blood behind them ; 
Left bleak wails of mourning kinsmen; 
Left dismay and desolation, 
By the gently flowing river. 
In the land of the Illini. 

So in time this mighty nation. 

Great in spirit and in numbers. 

In fame and strength were sadly broken; 

In numbers much decreased and lessened. 

By their very reputation. 

As a race of peace and plenty. 

As possessors of abundance. 

9. 
A little space of respite reached them. 
Through the efforts of the Frenchmen, 
Who first came on explorations, 
Down the gently flowing river; 
Father Maquette, mild voiced preacher; 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 15 

Joliet, the youthful trader; 
Bold La Salle and noble Tonti : 
These as friends helped the lUini ; 
Fought with them against their f oemen, 
Or invoked protection for them. 
'Gainst the wandering fierce Five Nations, 
Or the fighting wild Dacotahs. 

Only for a brief, glad season. 

Did the Frenchmen guard and aid them : 

Even then the cunning traders. 

Undermined them with their whiskey; 

Gave them lies for their believing, 

Till at length came on the English, 

The Virginia frontiersmen. 

Men as fierce as any savage. 

While the terrors of the country, 

The far-roving, fierce Five Nations, 

Kept them all alert for battle. 

Thinned their numbers by quick onslaughts, 

And reduced by force and cunning. 

The power of this mighty nation. 

Pontiac, the far-famed chieftain. 

Roused the valor of their young men. 

In the splendid cause of Freedom, 

And of vengeance 'gainst the white man; 

Led them far away to battle. 

Many led away forever. 



16 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

'Tis at such time, weak in numbers, 
Scarce five hundred able warriors, 
That Fate descended in its fury. 
Over the ill doomed Illini. 

10. 
Born far north of diverse parents. 
Half Ojibway, half Ottawa, 
No wise kin to the Illini, 
Save as member of the Metai, 
Pontiac, the chief of chieftains. 
Years before, by deeds of valor, 
Raised his name before his People, 
Till he overruled the country. 
East and Westv/ard from the Hurons; 
Gaining ground, he gained ambition; 
Gaining likewise hate for white men: 
(For the wrongs the Redmen suffered. 
Cried aloud to God for justice. 
Called for action to their leaders). 

Then he planned a mighty movement, 
'Twas no less than one great race-league. 
Which uniting all the Redmen, 
Should in purpose be the death-knell 
Of the savage white invaders. 
That is, of the savage English; 
For the Indians loved the Frenchmen, 
Since they intermarried with them. 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 17 

11. 

It was Pontiac who planned it, 
Planned this great league of the Redmen; 
He the greatest, — save Tecumseh, — 
Who by wisdom, strength and valor, 
Ever tried to stem the onrush 
Of the white men o'er the Redmen. 
Far he journeyed, this great warrior. 
From the Northland to the Southland, 
From the East unto the Westland, 
Ever urging and exhorting 
His red kinsmen to arouse them. 
To surround and kill the white wolves. 
Ere the chance for action vanished. 
Through a hundred tribes he wandered. 
Some so far their tongue he spake not. 
Speaking to them through sign language. 

12. 

Once he called the tribes together. 
Where Lake Huron is united. 
To Lake Erie by a river. 
Where Detroit has since been builded; 
There for months he fought the English, 
Held them all behind their redoubts ; 
Scared them, awed them, starved them, 
shot them, 



18 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

And was on the verge of triumph, 
In a cunning foray on them, 
When at length the siege was broken, 
By the secret information, 
Of the plot to kill the English, 
Given to Commander Gladwin, 
By an Indian maid who loved him. 

13. 

Thus do love and women ever 

Mold the fate of men and nations 

Now as in those olden ages 

When the Greeks besieged the Trojans. 

14. 

Being worn out with their waiting. 
When they learned about the warning. 
Quick the clansmen vanished homeward, 
Each tribe to its woods and meadows. 
Even Pontiac could not detain them; 
Even his fierce fiery language 
Failed to hold their courage steady. 
For the redman on the warpath 
Must perceive a sure achievement. 
Must feel certain of his victory. 
Or his courage and endurance. 
And especially his patience. 



i 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 19 

Flies into a thousand pieces, 
Vanishes like smoke of grasses. 
The distinction of high courage 
Is the holding to a purpose; 
This trait only comes with training; 
Hence 'tis lacking in the savage. 

15. 

Seventeen hundred sixty-three 
Was the year of this great failure; 
Then the Peace twixt French and English 
Made another chance more doubtful. 
This Peace made between two foemen, 
Though it puzzled all the Redmen, 
Never daunted that great warrior, 
Pontiac, the chief of chieftains, 
Lessened not his hate for English; 
Only added hate for Frenchmen. 

16. 

Six full winters then succeeded; 

Now again the old thought rankled; 

Rose in Pontiac the purpose, 

To unite against the English, 

And, before the chance had vanished. 

Drive them from the Redman's homeland : 

So from place to place he journeyed. 



20 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

Seeking every council meeting, 

Which might give him chance for talking 

Of the great thought in his bosom : 

Thus at length to south and westward, 

Hearing of a mighty meeting. 

To be held beside the river, 

The lordly giant Mississippi, 

Pontiac came to tell his purpose. 

And to win the warriors to it. 

Friends he had in every nation; 

Fellow clansmen bound by mystic 

Ties of lodge-lore fast unto him: 

Raven was he and an Eagle, 

Buffalo and Beaver totem. 

Likewise member of the Metai, 

The largest secret Indian order. 

For this reason, he Ottawa, 

Came the greatest Redman living. 

To the land of the lUini, 

Came to push his purposed race-league, 

For a war against the English. 



Friends were there from many nations. 
Each one hating down to heart core 
The savage faces of the English, 
Waiting only for a leader. 



Canto II 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINl 23 

THE LAST OF THE ILLINL 
CANTO IL 

1. 

At the village of Cahokia, 

By the mighty Mississippi, 

Was the meeting place appointed 

For a feast of ancient usage: 

Many chiefs had come together, 

Many warriors of far nations; 

Kickapoos, Pottawattomies, 

Sacs and Foxes and Ojibway, 

Many Shawnees and Miamis; 

Most in number, the lUini, 

Who were on their winter camp ground. 

2. 

With his proud head lifted haughty; 
With his black eyes flashing fury, 
There strode Pontiac, the Chieftain: 
Lonely was his heart and heavy; 
Once more had he been defeated, 
Once more had his hopes been baffled; 
Once more had his faith and trusting 
To the promises of white men 
Been destroyed like reeds wind-broken. 
Dreams of years had sunk to nothing. 
Though six years had come and vanished, 



24 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

In his mind the old wound rankled, 

For his hatred kept it open, 

Kept it fresh for his remembrance. 



Thus his heart its chance was waiting, 
Waiting for its day of vengeance. 
The day that had been surely promised, 
By the Manitoo, the Spirit, 
To himself and to his People. 
A man was he both strong and wily; 
True as oak unto his kinsmen; 
Fierce as fire unto his foemen, 
Kingly in his looks and bearing: 
Quicker still at acts than speeches; 
Swifter still to move than linger; 
Eager always to go forward. 
Somewhat hard, stern and forbidding; 
Somewhat gentle too and winning. 
Master both of friends and strangers; 
On he strode with quick, lithe footsteps, 
To the meeting of his clansmen. 

4. 

'Twas a day of solemn feasting. 
In honor of the old achievements. 
Wrought in pastimes by the Redmen, 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 25 

By the great Algonquin war-chiefs. 
Lifted up by his great purpose, 
Wrapped around as by a Vision, 
There came Pontiac, the Chieftain; 
Great in fact and great in feeling. 
As the best of his ancestors; 
In wisdom, greater than the greatest: 
They had rushed to war and triumphed; 
He had fought and he had waited; 
Gainst Time itself had been a victor; 
Like a rock was he in patience; 
Like a reed to bend when need be. 
As he passed on through the village, 
To the borders of the forest. 
The twinkling lights within the houses, 
Stabbed him like so many arrows; 
While the fort's gun with its booming. 
Telling the approach of sunset, 
Roused in him a bitter raving. 
For he saw in these an omen 
Of the Redman's sure destruction; 
In such things he saw lay hidden 
Poison that should kill his People. 

5. 
On the border of the forest. 
In a meadow fringed with oak trees. 
Was assembled the great meeting; 



26 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

Round the circle of red faces, 
Firelight flung its ruddy colors, 
When toward it moved a figure. 
Prouder, sterner than all others. 
More imperious and more haughty: 
Cries of huh ! huh ! then ran swiftly 
Round the circle — 'twas a welcome 
To the far-famed mighty chieftain. 

6. 

With a short curt word of greeting, 
He sat down within the circle. 
Listening to the common business. 
Long the feasting and carousing, 
Mong those far-met friendly clansmen, 
In that meadow hid in twilight. 
Lit up by the lonely firelight; 
Till at length, the mighty Chieftain, 
Pontiac, moved toward the centre; 
Not a sound broke on the stillness; 
Not a leaf stirred in the forest. 
As the chief of many battles. 
Stood a moment like a statue. 
Gravely searched the rows of faces. 
Painted by the ruddy firelight. 
On a curtain made of shadows. 
Then with deep voice in whose volume, 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 27 

Slumbered waves of hidden passion, 
Thus he spake unto his People: 

SPEECH OF PONTIAC. 

Brothers, I am glad to meet you; 

My eyes rejoice to see my kinsmen; 

My heart is kindled by your faces. 

Many years now you have known me, 

You know that I have battled for you. 

Against your foes, the hated English; 

You know I hate them now as ever. 

Forty summers have passed over. 

Since I sought them on the war-path; 

Then my hair was like the raven's ; 

Now 'tis flecked with fallen snowflakes, 

It has felt the touch of winter. 

Yet my heart is strong and hopeful; 

Still I look to see the Future, 

Give back power to the Redman; 

I shall see my People happy. 

Much in former days I counselled. 

Things that ever more proved true things, 

For the Spirit sent them to me: 

Now again I speak, the last time. 

Words my lips are fierce to utter; 

In my heart, the Spirit stirs them. 

And I cannot keep them under. 



28 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

You know I sent to our French father, 

Asking aid against the English : 

Weak women's words were brought back to 

me, 
Saying: AH are friends together; 
Frenchmen love their foes the English, 
And the Redmen too must love them. 
I make no answer to such folly; 
Let the Frenchmen love the English; 
They may love grey wolves and panthers: 
But I say to you, my Brothers, 
We must arm and fight together. 
Must be from East to West one People; 
Must rouse ourselves and wait the signal, 
Then like lightning seize the English, 
Kill them as they kill the red deer 
In the deep snow drifts of winter; 
Sweep them from the sight of daylight. 
Leave no seed for next year's harvest. 

Maybe there are some here gathered. 
Who are friends unto the English; 
Let them listen; they must follow, 
Or FU drive them from these prairies. 
As the fire burns grass in autumn, 
Not a tuft of them shall linger. 
But we shall triumph all together; 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 29 

The Manitou has whispered to me, 
Saying: All things are the Redmen's kins- 
men; 
All the beasts and birds and fishes ; 
All the hills and brooks and meadows; 
All the forests and the rivers; 
All the clouds within the heavens : 
He alone has known and loved them ; 
Has worn his trails across the meadows; 
Has placed his dead upon the hill-tops. 
Therefore hills and plains and rivers, 
Are for him and for him only. 
This is why it must and shall be, 
That we triumph all together,^- 
This is the Great Spirit's reason: 

We are brothers; they are strangers; 
We are friends and they are foemen; 
We are owners ; they, intruders ; 
We are children of the Father, 
They are outcasts, come from nowhere: 
Will you let them dispossess you? 
Take the graves of your forefathers. 
Spoil the bones of your great chieftains. 
Scatter forth your wives and children. 
And like vultures sit in triumph, 
On your own unburied bodies? 



30 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

No! you shall have better fortune; 
The Great Spirit guards his children, 
When they give their pledges to him. 
Why do bullets never reach me? 
Why are English threats as nothing? 
'Tis because I do the bidding 
Of the Manitou, the Spirit, 
Who long years ago had willed it, 
That I save you, my own People; 
That I bring you back, my brothers, 
The Glory and the Pride and Valor 
Of the warriors, your forefathers; 
You shall see the day when never 
Our great meadows and our rivers 
Shall be darkened by the English; 
The time is coming when the sunshine 
Shall see the Redmen free and happy: 
I have spoken. This you all know, 
I will act the words I utter; 
When the wampum belts are ready, 
I will lead you on the war-path. 

7. 

As he ceased, a sudden rustle. 
Running round the darkened circle. 
Showed the interest of his hearers; 
Then huh ! huh ! in quick succession, 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 31 

Clenched the words that had been spoken. 
With a flush on his dark features, 
The mighty chieftain paused a moment, 
Looked round with an eager searching 
In his eyes of restless roving; 
Gravely took a proffered peace pipe; 
Puffed two whiffs of strong tobacco; 
Then with wave of friendly greeting, 
Strode out from the fire-lit circle, 
Out toward the darkened forest, 
Where the shadows hung together. 
Making meshes deep and solemn; 
There he went to chant his war-songs. 
And invoke the Spirit's blessing. 

The meeting meanwhile broke up swiftly. 
Each man pondering o'er the war words. 

8. 

Just without the fire-lit circle, 
A trader had been standing silent. 
Listening to the great Chiefs language. 
And his threats of war-like meaning. 
An English trader who saw foremost. 
That a war would spoil his profits; 
Quickly made he his decision: 
(Greed for money knows no conscience 



32 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

And will dare all things by proxy.) 

Thus the trader acted swiftly; 

With a sly and cautious gesture, 

He called a renegade Illini, 

Who was coming from the meeting, 

Scarcely fit to know the meaning 

Of what things had taken place there, 

(Made so by the grace of whiskey) 

Though awake enough to reckon. 

That he wanted more fire-water. 

The trader knew his man to heart core; 

Beckoning him into a shadow. 

He promised then to give him whiskey. 

Powder, bullets, too, and money. 

If he killed the ancient foeman 

Of the English ; the one man, also 

Who in open council meeting, 

Dared to threaten an Illini; 

These few words and then the trader, 

Went back slowly to the village. 

With his black heart wreathed in smilings : 

While the renegade Illini 

Sneaked off through the darkened shadows. 



Careless, heedless, unsuspecting. 
Many young ambitious warriors, 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 33 

Kinsmen of the famous Chieftain, 
Made a circle round the camp fire, 
Waiting for their chief's returning. 
Meantime passing round the peace-pipe. 
As they smoked, from out the forest. 
Came a voice upraised in music. 
Chanting medicine and war songs. 
Asking aid from the Great Spirit. 
When they heard his deep voiced singing. 
They looked and smiled at one another. 
Knowing something was forthcoming, 
When the Chief invoked the Spirit. 

10. 

As they talked in quiet converse, 

Of a sudden, lo! a stillness 

Fell upon the flickering firelight. 

On the meadows and the wide fields. 

Over all the darkened forest; 

They listened and again they listened. 

For the voice to raise its chanting. 

For the voice of the great war chief. 

Communing with the Manitou. 

All around was solemn silence: 

Then in wonder at the stillness. 

Up they sprang from round the camp fire, 

Rushed into the gloomy forest, 



34 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

And upon the crisp brown oak leaves 
Found the Chief's dead body stabbed 

through, 
From the back by an assassin, 
The corpse of the far-famed warrior, 
Hero of a hundred battles, 
Pontiac, the chief of chieftains. 

11. 

As they raised the mournful death-song, 
From the shadows sprang in terror. 
The low and cowardly assassin. 
Born by chance and luckless fortune 
To the name but not the nature 
Of a true man, an Illini. 

12. 

Long ago the word was written; 
Both the innocent and guilty 
Must of need together suffer; 
Men are still their brothers' keepers: 
He who scorns this fact will rue it. 

13. 

Quick as speeds a fljing arrow. 
Sprang three warriors hasting forward. 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 35 

After the dim flying figure, 

Toward the village of Cahokia, 

The quiet, peaceful little village, 

Where beside their friends, the Frenchmen, 

Lived in winter the lUini, 

Numbering now perhaps a thousand. 

Behind them in the darkened forest. 

Rose the mournful, wailing death-song. 

Chanted by the faithful kinsmen. 

For the honor of their war-chief. 

Gone at last beyond the rivers. 

Fast flew pursued and the pursuers; 

But beside the Mississippi, 

He escaped into the darkness. 

Fled away into the willows. 

Which obscured it like a jungle. 

Seeing not but caring nothing, 

Since tribes answer for their members. 

Giving payment as requittal. 

Or more oft another member. 

Who should expiate injustice, 

Wiping out Death's wrong by dying. 

Blind with anguish, rage and horror, 

On they rushed into the village, 

Calling with loud cries the Elders, 

To deliver up the traitor. 

Or give vengeance as befitted. 



36 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

That they might thus make atonement, 
For the dear blood of their kinsman, 
After the established custom. 

14. 

Then the Elders speaking gravely, 
Said in turn that they were sorry, 
Though they knew naught of the matter, 
They promised to the anguished kinsmen, 
Two Ojibways from Wisconsin; 
One Ottawa from the northland. 
That if wrong had been committed. 
Justice would in time be given. 
After the Illini blood-law: 
Thus the Elders gravely answered. 

15. 

But not so, the younger warriors; 
Decked and daubed and full of whiskey. 
They spoke out with words of boasting; 
Said their fathers were the rulers 
Of that land from East to Westward. 
Then what business had the war-chief. 
To come there to make them trouble: 
Were he dead, it were small matter; 
They could live again in comfort. 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 37 

16. 

Thus spake rashly, the young: warriors, 

Made mere fools by too much whiskey. 

But in answer said the kinsmen: 

We demand our sacred blood-rites; 

Give us vengeance, or we take it; 

We have warned you; you have heard us! 

Baffled, back they went in sorrow, 
All intent upon their blood-rites. 
Back to where beside the chieftain. 
Friends were raising still the death-song, 
Neath the lonely sombre shadows, 
In the darkened midnight forest. 

17. 

Having been refused their blood rites. 

Satisfaction set by custom, 

By the tribe of whom a member 

Has been guilty of a murder. 

One thing now remained before them. 

Ceaseless, bloody retribution 

On each man born an lUini. 

For by ancient Indian custom. 

Any tribe denying payment 

For the ill deed of a member. 



38 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

Could be swept from oflf the Earth^s face, 
By the kinsmen of the injured: 
Thus each clansman of the Chieftain, 
Called for war 'gainst the Illini. 

18. 

Leaving one to guard the body, 
All the rest — his friends and kinsmen — 
More than fifty all together. 
Chiefs and warriors of tried valor. 
With a parting look of anguish, 
Turning from the great dead Chieftain, 
Plunged into the lonely forest. 
Each in a diverse direction. 
And vanished through the darkened 
shadows. 



Canto III 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 41 

THE LAST OF THE ILLINI. 
Canto HI. 



Blood for blood ! — the cry resounded, 
Over hill and plain and meadow; 
'Twas a clansmen's shout of vengeance: 
Swifter than a coming tempest; 
Faster than the gleam of lightning; 
Wild as howl of wolves in winter. 
Speeding on it gathered fury, 
Like the cloud that bears destruction, — 
Like the tempest which Death follows, — 
Woe! unto the doomed Illini. 



All thenceforth was stir and bustle 

In the village of Cahokia: 

By the Elders word was given. 

To make ready the next morning. 

To return unto their homeland, 

Far away from the great River, 

To the stream that floweth gently. 

Specked with islands; edged with sandcliffs; 

To their village of La Ventum, — 

To the meadows of their fathers. 



42 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

When the morning flung its grey light, 

Far across the wide prairies, 

Hastily within the village, 

By the mighty Mississippi, 

The mini rose together. 

Rose and cooked a scanty breakfast. 

Then with speed of a war-party. 

Packing up their camp utensils. 

Wended forth to North and Eastward, 

Over a well beaten roadway, 

To the land of their forefathers. 

To their village of La Ventum, 

On the fertile river bottoms. 

By the gently flowing river. 

Little time for rest was given; 
Urged on ever by the warriors, 
They were pushed forth to the journey. 
Three days passed in stolid travel; 
On the fourth day just at twilight. 
When they looked down on the river. 
From the cliffs that edge the valley. 
Round about the wide horizon, — 
To the North and East and Southward; 
To the Westward, too, behind them. 
Came short puffs of fire a moment. 
Which soon vanished into darkness. 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 43 

Then the keen eyes of the Elders 
Grew anxious and again more anxious, 
As pushing through the gathering dark- 
ness, 
They saw the signal fires repeated. 
On they hurried fast and faster; 
One or two young men and runners. 
Sped ahead unto the village. 
To give warning to the women. 
To the children and the old men. 
Who had been engaged in planting, 
To drop everything and follow: 
Whither? came the weary question. 
From an old squaw worn with labor. 
To the Rock! came back the answer. 

4. 

Fronting boldly to the Northward, 

With its deep indented edges. 

Worn out by the mighty waters. 

In the floods of bye-gone ages. 

There beside the gentle river 

Loomed up through the dusk of evening 

The great Rock which had been famous, 

Since the time when noble Tonti 

With a mere handful of allies. 

Beat the fierce Five Nations from it. 



44 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

Round it had the torrents sweeping, 
Left it standing like a giant, 
All bereft of friends and kinsmen; 
There in grandeur stood their haven. 
Toward which now all the Illini, 
Warriors, women, maids and children. 
Went pell-mell in a wild panic. 
Headlong to escape their f oemen, — 
The dead Chieftain's clan and kinsmen. 
Who were coming for their vengeance. 



As they passed across the river. 
Some in light canoes of birch bark. 
Some by fording, others swimming; 
To them came a burst of yelling, 
With a swarm of flying arrows. 
Cutting all the water round them, — 
Signal fires were bearing fruitage! 
Then the whiz of bullets o'er them. 
Showed their f oemen were increasing. 
In return the warriors sent back. 
Answer by a quick sharp volley. 
Which raised death-songs up behind them, 
And grim yells of maddened fury. 
From the willows by the river; 
Just grim yells, but not the body 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 45 

Of a f oeman shone from cover. 
Then the swift eyes of the Elders, 
Grew relieved for well they reckoned, 
If their foes were great in number. 
They would rush forth to attack them. 
Fast they fled along the lowlands, — 
On their right the shining sand cliffs ; 
On their left, the gentle river; 
And in front straight on before them. 
The great Rock in silence standing. 
Like a mighty pillar placed there. 
By the Manitoo, the Spirit, 
As a refuge for his children. 
Soon above them shone the shadows 
Of the mighty Rock, — their haven. 
To the inner side they hurried, 
Where a pathway, steep and narrow 
Wound its way unto the summit; 
There the warriors turned and facing, 
Held at bay their fleet pursuers; 
While the women and the children 
Clambered up the rocky pathway: 
One by one the warriors followed, 
While from out the trees and bushes, 
Now and then a bullet whistled. 
Or there came an arrow singing. 
Forth from out the darkened forest. 



46 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

When at length they gained the summit, — 
All together, the Illini, — 
Gave a mighty yell of triumph, 
Which was answered by a war whoop, 
From the shadows by the river: 

Safe at last ! For who could reach them, 
There high up above the valley. 
Perched like eagles in an eyry. 
Throned like Spirits in their Cloudland? 



They were safe; — but lo! to westward. 
Gleaming through the dusk of nightfall. 
Sparks of fire leaped far to Heaven; 
Bursting flames shot gleaming upward; 
'Twas their village, — their dear homeland, 
In the grasp of the pursuers. 

8. 

Wearied with their tedious journey. 
All the warriors and the women. 
All the children and the old men. 
After having eaten supper. 
Laid them down to rest, save only 
One young brave, an Indian half-breed, 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 47 

Called Le Bel, from his red mother — 
Named so from her Frenchman lover. 
He had joined them at La Ventum; 
By chance had come up there before them, 
Allured there by a maiden's black eye, 
A Shawnee maid whose village slumbered, 
Some few miles down on the river; 
Half-breed was he, yet all Indian, 
For he loved his mother's people. 



All the rest lay down to slumber. 

Leaving: this young brave to guard them ; 

As they slept, the only noises 

Were the whisperings of the breezes 

Through the spreading cedar branches, 

And the whippoorwills a-calling, 

From the shadows by the river. 

At the ending of the pathway. 

By the cliff's edge sat the young brave; 

In his hand a trusty rifle; 

In his belt a keen-edged dagger. 

Long he sat there like a statue. 

Hearing not a sound or ripple. 

From the world of all things living. 

Mid the stillness of the darkness. 

Soon his thoughts went down the river, — 



48 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

To the Shawnee maiden's wigwam; 
Floated on the placid current, 
Stopping by her round lithe figure, 
Where he too would fain be resting. 
Held there by her radiant glances ; 
Lulled by her inspired caresses; 
Wooed to slumber by her kisses. 

10. 

He was dreaming Love's fair visions, 
In the face of gloom and danger, — 
For of all moods neath the Heavens, 
Love's mood is the most heroic, — 
When the sudden soft low rolling 
Of a stone fell on his hearing : 
Then a long deep silence followed: 
All alert, he pressed him forward. 
With his eyes into the darkness. 
Swiftly stepping neath a cedar. 
Which hung o'er the gleaming sand cliff, 
At the turning of the pathway. 
There in patience then he waited: 

11. 

Soon he heard a something moving. 

Quiet as a shifting shadow. 

Not a human form he saw there, — 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 49 

Just a motion in the pathway, 
As if sand were coming upward 
To its old place on the summit; 
There was movement; then a silence; 
Then again a faint ground swelling, 
In the winding of the footpath; 
Puzzled somewhat, still he waited, 
All alert with unsheathed dagger. 
From the place where he was stationed, 
One short bound would gain the summit; 
Suddenly the pathway lifted. 
And a form rose from the darkness. 
Rose and showed against the starlight 
A hand that clenched a gleaming dagger. 

12. 

Never stirring; never breathing; 
Though the stranger almost touched him, 
Stolid stood Le Bel one instant. 
Till the stealthy stranger passed him. 
Passed a step or two beyond him, 
Then he sprang like lightning on him; 
With one hand plunged deep his dagger; 
With the other hand reached forward. 
Groping for his f oeman's weapon : 
'Neath the blue-black of the midnight. 
Fiercely fought those two lone f oemen, — 



50 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

Fought as men fight for existence. 
Back and forth they swayed and tottered; 
Gasped for breath and tugged and waited; 
Then began again, while ever 
Yawned the great void far below them, — 
Far below them loomed the darkness. 
Gradually the wound first given. 
Told upon his foe ; so, rousing 
All his strength, he forced the stranger, 
Foot by foot still near and nearer 
To the cliff's edge, when all sudden. 
With a wrestler's quick maneuver 
Young Le Bel then gave his foeman. 
One great push that sent him headlong 
Downward, downward to the water; 
But so mighty was the effort, 
O'er the brink he too went crashing. 
Downward toward the yawning river. 
But his fall was brief and broken; 
For by luck a scraggy cedar 
Jutting from between two ledges 
Saved him just in time; and as he 
Swung himself back to the summit, 
From below a great splash rose up. 
Next a gurgle from the river; 
Then dropped down Night's peaceful 
silence. 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 51 

13. 

To his post then sprang the young man; 

For a moment he was tempted, 

To arouse the weary sleepers, 

But on waiting for a minute. 

When no human echoes answered 

That great splashing of the river, 

Then he knew that it was only. 

Some young brave who hoped by daring. 

To acquire a chieftain's title. 

With the midnight shadows round him, 

Like a statue still unstirring. 

Sat the young man there till morning. 

14. 

Daybreak came and looking round them, 
Lo! they saw far up the river. 
Large canoes containing warriors; 
On the lowlands they saw motion. 
Which betokened hasting allies; 
Underneath them by the river. 
Every space could show a wigwam. 
To the East and to the Southward, 
O'er the canyon on a sand cliff. 
Where their foes could watch each move- 
ment. 



52 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

To the mainland there behind them, 

Warriors waited keen and eager; 

In the river right below them; 

On an isle shaped like an arrow, 

Shone the campfires of the allies, — 

Not a point of vantage empty! 

Grave grew the dark brows of the Elders, 

For they knew the situation, — 

They could read its grim hard meaning. 

But the children and the young men. 

Looking downward laughed and hooted, 

Making faces at the camp fires ; 

Cried out : Stay there, you mud turtles. 

Till the rising waters sweep you 

Far away to the great River, — 

You are stupid ugly cat-fish ! 

15. 

Slowly passed the days in waiting. 
With no sound save now a yelling. 
From the camp fires by the river. 
In honor of some new arrival; 
Or an answer of defiance. 
From the rock that towered skyward. 



Canto IV 



THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 55 

THE LAST OF THE ILLINI. 

Canto IV. 

There upon the Rock's high summit: 
Lying on the pleasant grasses, 
Or reclining 'neath the cedars, 
Chatting gaily with the maidens. 
All the thoughtless younger warriors 
Being safe and feeling valiant 
Taunted still the poor besiegers, 
Saying they were wasting labor. 
But the Elders and the women. 
Looking over the provisions. 
Found their stock was low and scanty. 
Then their grave eyes grew more anxious, 
For though meat and meal were scanty, 
Though the river flowed beneath them; 
Making pleasant little ripples. 
Not a drop of water had they. 



Water they must have and quickly; — 
So they knew but knew well, likewise. 
Night must first come down to shield them. 
Long they waited for the darkness, — 
First they saw the Day's glare lessen; 



56 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

In the lowlands to the Westward, 
Next they saw the river shadows, 
Deepen and grow dark and darker; 
As the sun grew large and golden; 
They saw it rest one splendid moment, 
Setting on the western hill tops. 
In the midst of gorgeous colors, 
And then vanish like a monarch : 
They saw the pink light of the sunset: 
Sink behind the western shadows; 
Watched the soft green of the meadows 
Slowly change its blithesome color; 
Heard the whipporwills keep calling. 
From the darkness by the river. 
Then they saw the camp fires lighted. 
In the forests all around them; 
While above, the silver star-light 
Glimmered through the air of evening. 



As they waited, from their number. 
Eight young warriors were selected; 
With them two with water bottles. 
Made of tanned skin sewed up tightly: 
When the blackness had grown blacker. 
Till the forests merged together, 
Making all the world one shadow, 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 57 

Then they crept down slow and slower, — 
Silent as the ghosts of dead men; 
Noiselessly they reached the river, 
Filled their bags and turned back upward. 
When a yell rang from the silence, 
And a volley lit the darkness; — 
Breathless watched their friends above 

them. 
As the two with bags came straining 
Up the pathway and behind them. 
Two came limping slowly onward; 
Two came bounding up exultant. 
But the other two lay dying. 
Far below them in the shadows, — 
Such the price they paid for water. 

4. 

The first night passed away in silence; 
Still another day succeeded. 
And another day came and vanished : 
Many foes had flocked around them; 
Then another came unbidden, — 
Cunning as a creeping serpent; 
Silent, stealthy as a panther; — 
It was Hunger, — the fierce Demon. 

5. 
Like a dry wind, it came o'er them, 



58 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 

Parching all the earth and heavens; 
They grew faint and weak and listless; 
Heavy eyed and heavy hearted; 
In their veins, a sleepless burning, 
As if many nagging devils. 
Were at work upon their vitals. 
Of the corn-meal, not a kernel; 
Of their deer-meat not a morsel; 
Of their water not a module. 
Then they seized the shrubs and bushes ; 
Split the tender sprigs half open, — 
Chewed them till they could not swallow: 
How they cried and prayed for water! 
Calling for a single rain drop: 
With the bright blue heavens o'er them. 
How they longed to see the black clouds 
Come up o'er the western hill tops. 
For they knew that they held water; 
Meanwhile still the placid river 
Mocked them with its smiling ripples. 



On the fifth day in the morning, 

Rose the mists above the valley; 

Then the clouds came scudding earthward. 

Till the whole sky-dome was darkened; 

Fell a light and gentle tapping 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 59 

On the new leaves of the oak trees : — 
When the rain came down in torents. 
Like wild things they leaped to meet it; 
Opened wide their mouths to catch it; 
Snapped at it like dogs in autumn; 
Licked the rocks where it had fallen: 
Stripping off their bits of clothing, 
They let their thirsty bodies drink it; 
Through the wet grass rolled them over, 
Thankful for its happy coming, — 
The good Rain, — their benefactor. 
But as quick as they had risen. 
Soon again the storm-clouds vanished, — 
Flew away like great black eagles, 
Leaving skies all hot above them. 



Round them all the world was happy; 
Fish leaped darting from the river; 
Merry hunters chased the red deer 
Down along the lowland bottoms; 
Mild eyed ring-doves cooed above them. 
While below, they watched the white buds 
Of a cherry tree whose branches 
Flung far out into the sunshine 
The fragrance of a thousand blossoms; 
Then with eyes of pain and fury 



60 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

They saw their foes at ease reclining, 
Gorged to slumber by their feasting. 

8. 

Le Bel, the young brave, had a sister, — 
Kiskilwasee, the Bright-eyed One; 
Orbs of jet and cheeks rose ruddy. 
Like good bronze that's highly polished. 
Gentle, fawn-like motions had she; 
Graceful movements; pleasant smilings; 
Modest winsome maiden manners : 
In her hands, the dimples lingered; 
On her brow lay childhood's freshness; 
Round her breathed the bloom of flowers. 



In her brother's first love making, 
Kiskilwasee often counselled. 
Showing puzzles to the young man. 
Now in turn he gave her comfort; 
Cheered her as she grew despondent, — 
Told her that perhaps some allies. 
Knitted by blood ties unto them. 
Might assist them in their trouble. 
For the maiden, dull with hunger, 
Spite of all would grow dejected. 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 61 

As she heard her brother's plannings, 
Kiskilwasee only smiled then ; 
Told him he must try to save him 
For the sake of his belowed one; 
For she felt that she would never 
See again the days of olden. 

10. 

Although proudly the Illini, 
Silently and uncomplaining, 
Faced their grim and direful fortune, 
Unrelenting and unswerving. 
Ruthlessly their doom descended. 

llo 

One by one they all grew weaker; — 
First the children; next the old men; 
Then the women. One by one — 
Beneath the trees, a little pappoose. 
Powerless for speech or crying. 
Would without a single whimper 
Fold its tiny hands forever: 
Mothers with gaunt haggard faces 
Would be found at break of morning 
Dead beside their dying offspring; 
Old men who had once been famous 
For a hundred deeds of valor, — 



62 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

Hardships almost past the telling, 
Would lie down beneath the bushes 
And give their last breath to the Spirit ; 
At the ending of the pathway 
Still the warriors watched and waited; — 
Though unfit to lift a weapon; 
Though too weak to pull a bow-string, 
From behind a dozen cedars 
Gleamed the shining rifle barrels, 
Ready for the first invader, 
While to help keep up their courage 
In this awful stress of famine. 
Bravely, feebly spake they, saying: — 
We are men ! We are lUini ! 

12. 

Twas the sunset of the twelfth day, — 

Half were dead; the rest were dying; — 

By the maiden, Kiskilwasee, 

Sat Le Bel, her faithful brother. 

Gazing on his sister's features 

With unutterable anguish, 

With a pity past expression. 

Life, the Beautiful, was going 

Past the unreturning sunset; 

All the things that they had dreamed of; 

All the dreamings they had lived for; 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 63 

All the hopes that they had cherished, — 
All were gone from them forever: 
Death's grim eyes were staring at them ; 
Death's cold face was watching o'er them; 
Death's long bony hand seemed itching 
For the chance to seize and rend them. 

how gracious, precious Life seemed, 
Now that it was slipping from them! 
Softly whispered Kiskilwasee; — 

1 would like to live, my brother, 
Until you were safe and happy: 
After all, this earth is winsome. 
When the People keep peace on it. 
We have had glad days together; 
For so much at least I'm grateful: 
If you live, remember, brother, 
That your Kiskilwasee loved you, — 
Blessed you, — ^wished you all good fortune! 

13. 

Death is life's one great instructor; 
Teaching tenderness and beauty; 
Opening hearts to nobler thinking; 
Bringing subtler, deeper insight 
Into mysteries of living ; 
Smiting Self from its enthronement, 
Crowning Love with wreaths of laurel. 



64 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 

14. 

What best moves both men and heroes 

Are the mild words of a woman; — 

Strength has need of being tender. 

When her brother heard the praises, 

First they cut him like an arrow, 

Rankling in his heart a little, — 

For he did not feel deserving ; 

(Merit ever is unconscious.) 

Then the young man rose up slowly. 

Took a small red jug of pottery. 

Tied around with thong of deer skin; 

With a motion to his sister, 

Which she answered with faint smilings. 

Straight he walked toward the cliff's side. 

Where it hung above the water; 

But where trees and bushes fringed it. 

Half way down unto the river: 

Swinging from a sturdy pine tree. 

Soon he reached a ledge that jutted 

Just below the cliff's true summit; 

There he rested for a moment, — 

Being weak with weary fasting. 

Gazing at the space below him. 

Lo! he saw there by the river. 

Many boats but not a warrior; 

Much he wondered; long he lingered; 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 65 

Slowly then by roots and bushes, 
Swinging down, now low and lower. 
He had almost reached the water. 
And then thinking how his sister 
Would rejoice to see his jug full. 
When a war-whoop sounded o'er him. 
Then another and another, — 
Far up on the cliff's high summit. 
His thin blood froze up within him; 
Looking down at the canoes there. 
Drawn up underneath the shadows. 
Then he understood their meaning: — 
All was over now forever — 
Naught he knew could save his people; 
For their swarming foes had waited 
Until they were weak with hunger. 
To assault and over-power them. 

15. 

Death is easier than living! — 
So he thought as high above him 
Once again the yells resounded, — 
'Twas the death-knell of a nation. 
Le Bel began to clamber upward, 
Back to where he had descended. 
Hoping he might save his sister. 
But, alas, his weak arms failed him; 



66 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

Though he strove by pulling, hauling, 
To regain the rocky cliff -side, 
Time and time again he stumbled, 
Till he saw that it was useless; 
Even though he reached the summit 
He was powerless to aid her. 
Having neither strength nor weapons. 

16. 

As he pondered for a moment, 
Suddenly, as in a vision. 
Came his sweetheart's face before him. 
Filling all his soul with courage; 
Breathing farewell to his sister, 
Seizing a canoe, he launched it 
On the placid flowing current; 
Close beside the bank he kept it, — 
Close beneath the spreading elm trees. 
And the friendly fringe of willows. 
Down the stream, he let it hurry. 
Dipping very soft his paddle, 
Now and then, to keep it headed 
Underneath the welcome shadows. 
While the war-whoops rang behind him. 
After floating for a little, 
Which seemed like a thousand ages. 
Out of sound and sight and hearing 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 67 

Of the bloody deeds behind him, 
With his arms made strong and wiry 
By a sudden wondrous spirit, 
Which o'er-multiplied his courag^e. 
He began to paddle swiftly 
To the land of life and freedom. 

17. 

Guarded by some happy fortune, 

Guided by some gracious Spirit, 

'Twas his fate to reach his haven, 

Down below him on the river. 

Where his sweetheart's heart was waiting. 

To the village of the Shawnees; 

And in time also by fortune. 

He secured all he hoped for. 

Both the maiden and a wigwam, — 

Gaining love by gift of loving. 

18. 

Meanwhile on the Rock's high summit. 
Vengeance dire and stern was doing, 
Just as if the great Chiefs spirit 
Had descended for a season 
To inspire his friends and kinsmen : 
Raising high their red stone axes; 
Lifting up their bloody daggers. 



68 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

There upon the Rock's high summit, 
To the stars that glittered o'er them, 
This the song those warriors chanted:— 

Hear us, Kinsman, 

Mighty Chieftain! 
Best and greatest of thy people: 
See the gifts we pour out for thee; 
Hear the groans we raise up to thee; 
Watch the blood that flows like water 
Know, O Chieftain, mighty warrior, 
That the Spirit of the war-path 
Smiles upon our deeds of vengeance, 
And that o'er thy honored body 
All the earth is showering blessings; — 

Hear us. Kinsman, 

Mighty Chieftain! 
Best and greatest of thy people; 
Now thy death has been avenged! 



19. 

There among the spreading cedars. 
In the darkened twilight shadows. 
Far above the placid river. 
This victorious song was chanted; — 
Thus was Pontiac's death atoned for. 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 69 

20. 

Passed and gone, in silence vanished 
Are the Redman's days of splendor; — 
Passed like golden leaves of autumn; 
Gone like Springtime's fragile beauty; 
Fled like flowers at touch of winter. 
Yet the leaves still whisper of them ; 
Still the oak trees chant their death songs; 
Still the grasses keep their graves green; 
While the Earth, — all gracious Mother, — 
Hides their bones from glare of sunlight; 
Since all Nature feels a kindness 
For the deeds and deaths of heroes. 



Notes to Canto I 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 



NOTE 1. 

"O'er the prairies hunted bison." 
One of the common modes of killing the 
buffalo, practiced by the Illinois and other 
tribes of the West, was to drive them head- 
long over the precipitous banks of rivers. 

Buffalo Rock, a large promontory rising 
fifty or sixty feet high, on the North side of 
the Illinois river, six miles below Ottawa, is 
said to have derived its name from this 
practice. — Davidson and Stuve's History of 
Illinois. 

NOTE 2. 

"Held their festival and corn dance.'' 
The green corn dance is thus described by 
Catlin: — 

When the doctors have decided that the 
corn will do, criers are sent through the 
village saying that the Great Spirit has 
been kind to them, that all must empty their 
stomachs and prepare for the coming feast. 

On the day appointed a kettle is hung 
over a fire and filled with green corn which 



74 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

is well boiled, as a present to the Great 
Spirit. While this first kettle is boiling, four 
medicine men, with a stalk of corn in one 
hand and a rattle in the other, with their 
bodies painted with white clay, dance 
around the kettle, chanting a hymn to the 
Great Spirit. At the same time a number 
of warriors are dancing around in a larger 
circle, holding stalks of corn in their hands, 
while the villagers look on. 

During this scene a lot of wooden bowls 
are arranged on the ground, each contain- 
ing a spoon of buffalo or mountain sheep's 
horn. 

When the doctors decide the corn is boiled, 
it it taken out and placed on a scaffold of 
sticks above the fire, where it is then al- 
lowed to burn up while the dance goes on. 
Next the fire and ashes are removed, and a 
second fire made by friction, built on the 
same spot, and another kettle full of corn 
is boiled for the chiefs and medicine men. 
After this, unlimited license is given to the 
whole tribe to boil and eat corn until the 
fields are exhausted." — See Catlin, Vol. I, 
pp. 189-190. 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 75 

NOTE 3. 

"Played at ball for sport and pastime." 

The national game of nearly all Indian 
tribes was the game of LaCrosse or Bagga- 
tiway. 

At the end of the stick was a netting of 
catgut, in which they caught and from 
which they threw the ball, but this netting 
was much smaller than in the modern La- 
Crosse stick. 

In the Chippewa or Ojibway tongue, this 
game is called Bang-ah-ud-o-way. It is thus 
described by William W. Warren, who on 
the maternal side had Ojibway blood in his 
veins: — 

"This game is played with a bat and a 
wooden ball. The bat is about four feet 
long, trimmed at one end into a circular 
curve, which is netted with leather strings, 
and forms a cavity where the ball is caught, 
carried, and, if necessary, thrown with 
great force to treble the distance that it can 
be thrown by hand." 

Catlin (in Vol. II, page 124) gives the 
following account of an Indian game of ball 
as played by the Choctaws : 



76 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

"Monday afternoon at three o'clock, I 
rode out with Lieutenants S. and M. to a 
very pretty prairie, about six miles distant, 
to the ball playground of the Choctaws, 
where we found several thousand Indians 
encamped. 

There were two points of timber about 
half a mile apart, in which the two parties 
for the play, with their respective families 
and friends, were encamped, and lying be- 
tween them, the prairie on which the game 
was to be played. . . . Each party had 
their goal made with two upright posts, 
about 25 feet high and 6 feet apart, set 
firmly in the ground, with a pole across the 
top. 

These goals were about forty or fifty 
rods apart, and at a point just half way 
between was another small stake driven 
down, where the ball was to be thrown up 
at the firing of a gun, to be struggled for 
by the players. 

All this preparation was made by some 
old men, who were, it seems, selected to be 
the judges of the play, who drew a line (on 
the sides of the field) from one bye to the 
other, to which directly came from the 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 77 

woods on both sides a great concourse of 
women and old men, boys and girls and 
dogs and horses, where bets were to be 
made in the play. 

The sticks with which this tribe play are 
bent into an oblong hoop at the end, with a 
sort of slight v/eb of small deer thong tied 
across, to prevent the ball from passing 
through. 

The players hold one of these in each 
hand, and by leaping into the air, they catch 
the ball between the two nettings and throw 
it, without being allowed to strike it or 
catch it in their hands. . . . 

In every ball play of these people it is a 
rule of the play that no man shall wear moc- 
casins on his feet or any other dress than 
his breech cloth around his waist, with a 
beautiful bead belt and "a tail" made of 
white horse hair or quills and a "mane" on 
the neck, of horsehair dyed of various 
colors. 

This game had been arranged and "made 
up" three or four months before the parties 
met to play it, and in the following manner: 

The two champions, who led the two 
parties, and had the alternate choosing of 



78 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 

the players through the whole tribe, sent 
runners with the ball sticks most fantas- 
tically ornamented with ribbons and red 
paint, to be touched by each one of the 
chosen players, who thereby agreed to be 
on the spot at the appointed time and ready 
for the play. 

The ground having been all prepared and 
the preliminaries of the game settled, and 
the bettings all made, and goods all 
"staked," night came on without the ap- 
pearance of any players on the ground, but 
soon after dark a procession of lighted 
flambeaux was seen coming from each en- 
campment, to the ground where the players 
assembled around their respective byes, 
and at the beat of the drums and chants of 
the women, each party commenced the ball 
play dance. 

Each party danced a quarter of an hour 
around their respective byes, in their ball 
play dress, rattling their ball sticks together 
in the most violent manner, and all singing 
as loud as they could raise their voices, 
while the women of the party, who had 
their goods at stake, formed into two rows 
on the line between the two parties of 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 79 

players, and danced also, in a uniform step, 
and all the voices joined in chants to the 
Great Spirit, in which they were soliciting 
His favor in deciding the game to their ad- 
vantage, and also encouraging the players 
to exert every power they possessed in the 
struggle that was to ensue. 

In the mean time, four old medicine men, 
who were to have the starting of the ball, 
and who were to be judges of the play, were 
seated at a point where the ball was to be 
started, and busily smoking to the Great 
Spirit for their success in judging rightly 
and impartially between the parties in so 
important an affair. 

This dance was one of the most pic- 
turesque scenes imaginable, and was re- 
peated at intervals of every half hour dur- 
ing the night, and exactly in the same 
manner, so that the players were certainly 
awake all the night, and arrayed in their 
appropriate dress, prepared for the play 
which was to commence at nine o'clock the 
next morning. 

In the morning at the hour, the two 
parties and all their friends were drawn out 
and over the ground, when the game com- 



80 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 

menced by the judges throwing up the ball 
at the firing of a gun, when an instant 
struggle ensued between the players, who 
were some six or seven hundred in number, 
and who were endeavoring to catch the ball 
in their sticks and throw it home and be- 
tween their respective stakes, which when 
successfully done counts one for game. 

In this game every player is dressed 
alike, that is, divested of all dress, except 
girdle and tail, which I have before de- 
scribed, and in these desperate struggles for 
the ball when it is up . . . there are 
rapid successions of feats and incidents 
that astonish and amuse, far beyond the 
conception of any one who has not had the 
singular good luck to witness them. 

For each time that the ball has passed 
between the stakes of either party, one was 
counted for their game, and a halt of about 
one minute, when it was again started by 
the judges of the play, and a similar 
struggle ensued, and so on until the suc- 
cessful party arrived to 100, which was the 
limit of the game.'' — Catlin, Vol. 11, pp. 124 
to 126. 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 81 

Note 4. 

"The mini— first of all men." 

mini is a French corruption of the Algon- 
quin words "in" and "nini," meaning "the 
man," Latin vir., equivalent to our modern 
slang phrase, "we, the people," as if there 
were no other people. 

The main tribe of Illinois Indians were 
the Kaskaskias. 

"This is the name of the tribe that for- 
merly occupied, and of course owned, a vast 
tract of country lying on the east of the 
Mississippi . . . and now forming a 
considerable portion of the great and popu- 
lous state of Illinois. 

Perhaps there has been no other tribe on 
the continent of equal power with the Kas- 
kaskias, that have so suddenly sunk down 
to complete annihilation and disappeared. 
The remnant of this tribe have long since 
merged into the tribe of Peorias of Illinois, 
and it is doubtful if one dozen of them are 
now existing. 

With the very few remnants of this tribe 
will die in a few years a beautiful language, 
entirely distinct from all others about it, 
unless some enthusiastic person may pre- 



82 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

serve it from the lips of the few who are 
yet able to speak it." — Catlin: N. A. Indians. 
Vol. II, p. 100. 

"From the East the fierce Five Nations/' 

The Iroquois 
Oneidas 
Senecas 
Onondagas 
Cayugas 
Mohawks 

"In 1712 they were joined by the Tusca- 
roras from North Carolina, who constituted 
the sixth member of the confederacy." 

"All the mighty concerns of the Iroquois 
were the subject of full deliberation, in 
open council, and their diplomatic negotia- 
tions were managed with consummate skill. 
When the question of peace or war was de- 
cided, the counsellors united in chanting 
hymns of praise or warlike choruses, which 
at the same time gave expression to the 
public feeling, and imparted a kind of nat- 
ural sanctity to the act. The majority of 
those who have given their attention to Iro- 
quois history, have recognized in their pub- 
lic acts the germs of a national policy which 
would have been characterized by greater 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 83 

subtlety and strength than that of the 
Aztecs under Montezuma or of the Peruv- 
ians under Atahualpa." — Schoolcraft : — 
Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge, Vol. VI, 
p. 189. 

"Their great men, both sachems and cap- 
tains, are generally poorer than the com- 
mon people, for they effect to give away 
and distribute all the presents or plunder 
they get in their treaties, or in war, so as to 
leave nothing to themselves. 

There is not a man in the Magistracy of 
the Five Nations who has gained his office 
otherwise than by merit; there is not the 
least salary, or any sort of profit, annexed 
to any office, to tempt the covetous and 
sordid, but on the contrary, every unworthy 
action is unavoidably attended with the 
forfeiture of their commission, for their 
authority is only the esteem of the people, 
and ceases the moment that that esteem is 
lost. 

Here we see the natural origin of all 
power and authority among a free people." 
— Golden: — History of the Iroquois. 



84 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 

Note 6. 

"Father Marquette, mild voiced 
preacher." 

"Joliet, the youthful trader." 

"Marquette was born in 1637, of an old 
and honorable family at Laon, in the north 
of France, and was now (1673) thirty-five 
years of age. When about seventeen he had 
joined the Jesuits, evidently from motives 
purely religious, and in 1666 he was sent to 
the missions of Canada." 

. . . Louis Joliet was the son of a 
wagon maker in the service of the Hundred 
Associates, then owners of Canada. He 
was born at Quebec in 1645, and was edu- 
cated by the Jesuits. When still very young 
he resolved to be a priest. He received the 
tonsure and the minor orders at the age of 
seventeen. Four years after, he is men- 
tioned with especial honor for the part he 
bore in the disputes in philosophy, at which 
the dignitaries of the colony were present, 
and in which the Intendent himself took 
part. 

Not long after, he renounced his clerical 
vocation and turned fur trader. . . In 
what we know of Joliet, there is nothing 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 85 

that reveals any salient or distinctive trait 
of character, any especial breadth of view 
or boldness of design. He appears to have 
been simply a merchant, intelligent, well 
educated, courageous, hardy and enter- 
prising." — Parkman: — LaSalle and Discov- 
ery of the Great West, pages 48-49. 

Note 7. 

"Bold LaSalle and Noble Tonty.'' 
Parkman thus describes LaSalle's char- 
acter: — 

"Serious in all things, incapable of the 
lighter pleasures, incapable of repose, find- 
ing no joy but in the pursuit of great de- 
signs, too shy for society and too reserved 
for popularity, often unsympathetic, and 
always seeming so, smothering emotions 
which he could not utter, schooled to uni- 
versal distrust, stern to his followers, and 
pitiless to himself, bearing the brunt of 
every hardship and every danger, demand- 
ing of others an implied deference, heeding 
no counsel but his own, attempting the im- 
possible, and grasping at what was too vast 
to hold, he contained in his own complex 
and painful nature the chief springs of his 



86 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

triumphs, his failures, and his death." — 
LaSalle and the Discovery of the Great 
West, p. 407. 

Parkman in a note on page 441 of his 
LaSalle and the Discovery of the Great 
West, gives the following account of Tonty: 

"The missionary, St. Cosine, who traveled 
under his escort in 1699, says of him, ^He is 
beloved by all the voyageurs. . . It was 
with deep regret that we parted from him. 
He is a man who best knows the country; 
he is loved and feared everywhere.' " 

Note 8. 

"Pontiac, the far famed chieftain." 
Parkman thus describes Pontiac: "Pon- 
tiac was principal chief of the Ottawas. 
The Ottawas, Ojibways, and Pottawatomes 
had long been united in a loose kind of con- 
federacy, of which he was the virtual head. 
Over those around him his authority was 
almost despotic, and his power extended 
far beyond the limits of the three united 
tribes. His influence was great among all 
the nations of the Illinois Country, while 
from the sources of the Ohio to those of the 
Mississippi, and indeed to the farthest 



THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 87 

boundaries of the widespread Algonquin 
race, his name was known and respected. 

The fact that Pontiac was born the son 
of a chief would in no degree account for 
the extent of his power, for among Indians, 
many a chief's son sinks back into insig- 
nificance, while the offspring of a common 
warrior may succeed to his place. 

Among all the wild tribes of the conti- 
nent, personal merit is indispensable to 
gaining or preserving dignity. Courage, 
resolution, address, and eloquence, are sure 
passports to distinction. 

With all these Pontiac was pre-eminently 
endowed, and it was chiefly to them, urged 
to their highest activity by a vehement am- 
bition, that he owed his greatness. He pos- 
sessed a commanding energy and force of 
mind, and in subtlety and craft could match 
the best of his wily race." — Conspiracy of 
Pontiac, Vol. I, pp. 182-3. 

Note 9. 

"Save as member of the Metai." 
Metai and Me-da-we is thus mentioned 
by Wm. W. Warren, of the Warren family 



88 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

of Massachusetts, who had Ojibway blood in 
his veins: — 

"The grand rite of Me-da-we-win (or as 
we have learned to term it, Grand Medi- 
cine) and beliefs incorporated therein, are 
not fully understood by the whites. This 
important custom is still shrouded in mys- 
tery, even to my own eyes, though I have 
taken much, much pains to inquire, and 
made use of every advantage, possessed by 
speaking their language perfectly, being 
related to them, possessing their friendship 
and intimate confidence, has given me, and 
yet I frankly acknowledge that I stand as 
yet, as it were, on the threshold of the 
Medawe lodge. Among the Ojibways, the 
secrets of this grand rite are as sacredly 
kept as the secrets of the Masonic Lodge 
among the whites. 

Fear of threatened or certain death, 
either by poison or violence, seals the lips 
of the Me-da-we institute, and this is the 
patent reason why it is still a secret to the 
white man, and why it is not more generally 
understood. . . In the Me-da-we rite is 
incorporated most that is ancient among 
them, songs and traditions that have been 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 89 

descended, not orally, but in hieroglyphics, 
for at least a long line of generations. 

In this rite is perpetuated the purest and 
most ancient idioms of their language, 
which differs somewhat from that of the 
common every day use. . . 

They assert that the Me-da-we rite was 
granted them by the Great Spirit in a time 
of trouble and death, through the inter- 
cession of Man-ah-asho, the universal uncle 
of An-ish-in-aubag. 

Certain rules to guide their course in life 
were given them at the same time, and are 
represented in hieroglyphics. 

These great rules of life, which the writ- 
er has often heard inculcated by the Me- 
dawe initiations in their secret teaching to 
their novices, bear a strong likeness to the 
ten commandments, revealed by the Al- 
mighty to the Children of Israel." 

— Minnesota History Soc. Coll. 
Vol. V, p. 67. 

Note 10. 

"Or the fighting, wild Docotahs." 
The Docotah or Sioux Indians are per- 
haps the hardiest of all the Indian tribes. 



90 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 

Living in a cold country, they were obliged 
to be alert and active in order to live. Be- 
sides being very strong and active, their 
morals were of a high order. A United 
States private soldier, who had been sta- 
tioned for many years in the country of the 
Sioux, told me in the course of a long, pri- 
vate conversation, that the United States 
soldiers never dared to make love to Sioux 
girls, — that whenever any of the boys were 
so reckless as to attempt it, he took his life 
in his hands, and not infrequently lost his 
life in the attempt. 



Notes to Canto II 



THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 93 

Note 1. 

"At the Village Cahokia." 

Cahokia was one of the principal French 
villages in Illinois in 1763. Vincennes and 
Kaskaskia were the others. Kaskaskia was 
near the mouth of the Illinois river. Ca- 
hokia was nearly opposite St. Louis. 

Note 2. 
"To the meeting of his clansmen.'^ 
Warriors often traveled hundreds of 
miles to attend an important meeting. In 
1900 two Indian Chiefs from Old Town, 
Maine, made a journey by canoe, to Wash- 
ington City and return, to see the Great 
Father. 

Note 3. 

"You know I sent to our French Father." 
In a speech to some Canadian French dur- 
ing the siege of Detroit in June, 1763, Pon- 
tiac used the following language: — 

"I am the same French Pontiac who as- 
sisted you seventeen years ago. I am a 
Frenchman, and I wish to die a French- 
man." 



94 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 



Note 4. 

"When the wampum belts are ready/' 
In ancient times it (wampum) consisted 
of small shells or fragments of shells rudely 
perforated and strung together; but more 
recently it was manufactured by the white 
man from marine or fresh water shells. An 
Indian orator at every pause of his speech, 
delivered a belt or string of wampum, vary- 
ing in sizes, according to the importance of 
what he had said, and by its figures and col- 
oring, so arranged as to perpetuate the re- 
membrance of his words. These belts were 
carefully stored up, like written documents, 
and it was generally the office of some old 
man to interpret their meaning." 

Note 5. 

"Chanting medicine and war songs." 
It is interesting to observe that even 
great war chiefs like Pontiac, in order to 
increase their power, cultivated the char- 
acter of a medicine man as zealously as they 
did that of a warrior. Sitting Bull is an 
example in recent years of an Indian per- 
sonally a coward, who by his cunning, 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 95 

gained great influence over his fellows, 
through his claim to being a Great Medi- 
cine man. 

Note 6. 

"Calling with loud cries, the elders 

To deliver up the traitor." 

Indian custom made it obligatory upon 
the relatives and friends of a murdered 
man to gain vengeance. It was supposed 
that the ghost of the deceased could not 
rest until he had been avenged. 

Note 7. 

"After the Illini blood law." 

When a murder was committed among 
the Indians, satisfaction might be made by 
payment of goods to the dead man's rela- 
tives, or by the sacrifice of life for life. If 
the murderer did not give himself up, one 
of his relations or tribesmen were required 
to do so. The money payment was often 
favored by the older chiefs, because it pre- 
vented feuds. A graphic account of an ex- 
piation when the murderer gave himself 
up, is thus described in Gurdon Hubbard's 
Life, pages 62 to 66. Being the account of 



96 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 

an eye witness it has historic value. The 
account is as follows: 

"We progressed leisurely into the mouth 
of the St. Joseph river, where we were 
encamped for several days, and were joined 
by the traders from that river. We reached 
Grand river early in May (1819) and sought 
a good camping place up the river, some dis- 
tance from the Indian camps. 

The Teast of the Dead' had commenced, 
and many Indians had already arrived, and 
for five or six days we were witnesses to 
their strange, yet solemn ceremonies. 

One evening at the close of the feast we 
were informed that an Indian, who the fall 
previous, in a drunken quarrel, had killed 
one of the sons of a chief of the Manistee 
band, would on the morrow deliver himself 
up to suffer the penalty of his crime accord- 
ing to the Indian custom. 

We gave but little credence to the ru- 
mor, though the Indians seemed much ex- 
cited over it. On the following day, how- 
ever, the rumor proved true, and I wit- 
nessed the grandest, most thrilling incident 
of my life. 

The murderer was a Canadian Indian, and 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 97 

had no blood relatives among the Maniteis, 
but had, by invitation, returned with some 
of the tribe from Maldin, where they had 
received their annuities from the English 
government, and falling in love with a Man- 
istie maiden, had married her and settled 
among them, agreeing to become one of 
their tribe. 

As was customary, all his earnings from 
hunting and trapping, belonged to his 
father-in-law until the birth of his first 
child, after which he commanded his time, 
and could use his gains for the benefit of 
his family. 

At the time of the killing of the Chiefs 
son he had several children and was very 
poor, possessing nothing but his meagre 
wearing apparel, and a few traps. He was 
a fair hunter, but more proficient as a 
trapper. 

Knowing that his life would be taken un- 
less he could rescue it with furs and articles 
of value, after consulting with his wife, he 
determined to depart at night in a canoe 
with his family, and secretly make his way 
to the marshes at the head waters of the 
Muskegon river, where he had before 



98 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

trapped successfully, and there endeavor 
to catch beaver, mink, marten and other 
fine furs, which were unusually abundant, 
and return in the spring and satisfy the de- 
mands of the Chief. 

As, according to custom, if he failed to 
satisfy the Chief and family of the mur- 
dered man, either by ransom or a sacrifice 
of his own life, they could demand of his 
wife's brothers what he had failed to give, 
he consulted with one of them, and told 
him of his purpose, and designated a par- 
ticular location on the Muskegon, where 
he could be found if it became necessary to 
return and deliver himself up. 

Having completed his arrangements, he 
made his escape and arrived safely at the 
place of destination, and having but few 
traps, and but a small supply of ammuni- 
tion, he arranged dead-fall traps in a cir- 
cuit around his camp, hoping with them 
and his few traps to have a successful win- 
ter, and by spring to secure enough to save 
his life. 

After the burial of his son, the Chief 
took council with his other sons as to what 
they should do to revenge the dead, and as 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 99 

they knew the murderer was too poor to pay 
their demands, they determined upon his 
death, and set about finding him. Being 
disappointed in this, they made a demand 
upon the brothers of his wife, who know- 
ing that they could not satisfy his claims, 
counselled together as to what course to 
pursue, all but one of them believing that 
he had fled to Canada. 

The younger brother, knowing his where- 
abouts, sent word to the chief that he would 
go in search of the murderer, and if he 
failed to produce him, would himself give 
his own life in his stead. 

This being acceptable, without divulging 
the secret of his brother-in-law's hiding 
place, he started to find him. It was a long 
and difficult journey, as he had no land 
marks to go by, and only knew that he 
should find his brother-in-law on the head 
water of the Muskegon, which he finally did. 

The winter had been one of unusually 
deep snow, and the spring of great floods, 
which had inundated the country where he 
was. The bear had kept their dens, and for 
some reason the marten, beaver and mink 
had not been found, so that when their 



100 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 

brother-in-law reached them, he and his 
family were almost perishing from starva- 
tion, and his winter's hunt had proved un- 
successful. 

They accordingly descended together to 
the main river, where the brother left them 
for his return home, it being agreed be- 
tween them that the murderer himself 
would report at the mouth of the Grand 
River during the "Feast of the Dead," 
which promise he faithfully performed. 

Soon after sunrise the news spread 
through the camp that he was coming. The 
Chief hastily selected a spot in a valley be- 
tween two sand hills, in which he placed 
himself and family in readiness to receive 
him, while we traders, together with the 
Indians, sought the surrounding sand hills, 
that we might have a good opportunity to 
witness all that might occur. Presently we 
heard the monotonous thump of the Indian 
drum, and soon thereafter, the mournful 
voice of the Indian, chanting his own death 
song, and then we beheld him, marching 
with his wife and children, slowly and in 
single file, to the place selected for the ex- 
ecution, still singing and beating the drum. 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 101 

When we reached a spot near where the 
Chief sat, he placed the drum on the ground, 
and his wife and children seated themselves 
on mats which had been prepared for them. 

He then addressed the Chief, saying, "I 
in a drunken moment stabbed your son, 
being provoked to it by his accusing me of 
being a coward, and calling me an old wo- 
man. I fled to the marshes at the head of 
the Muskegon, hoping that the Great 
Spirit would favor me in the hunt, so that 
I could pay you for your lost son. I was 
not successful. Here is the knife with 
which I killed your son; by it I wish to die. 
Save my wife and children. I am done." 

The Chief received the knife, and hand- 
ing it to his oldest son, said, "Kill him." 
The son advanced, and placing his left hand 
on the shoulder of his victim, made two or 
three feints with the knife, and then 
plunged it into his breast to the handle and 
immediately withdrew it. 

Not a murmur was heard from the In- 
dian or his wife and children. Not a word 
was spoken by those assembled to witness. 
All nature was silent, broken only by the 
singing of the birds. Every eye was turned 



102 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

upon the victim, who stood with his eyes 
fixed firmly upon his executioner, and calm- 
ly received the blow without the appearance 
of the slightest tremor. For a few moments 
he stood erect, the blood gushing from the 
wound at every pulsation, then his knees 
began to quake, his eyes and face assumed 
an expression of death, and he sank upon 
the ground. 

During all this time the wife and chil- 
dren sat perfectly motionless, gazing upon 
the husband and father, not a sigh or mur- 
mur escaping their lips until life was ex- 
tinct, when they threw themselves upon his 
dead body, lying in a pool of blood, in grief 
and lamentations, bringing tears to the eyes 
of the traders, and causing a murmur of 
sympathy to run through the multitude of 
Indians. 

Turning to Mr. Deschamp, down whose 
cheeks the tears were trickling, I said, 
"Why did you not save that noble Indian? 
A few blankets and shirts, a little cloth 
would have done it." "Oh, my boy," he re- 
plied, "we should have done it. It was 
wrong and thoughtless in us. What a scene 
we have witnessed!" 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 103 

Still the widowed wife and her children 
were clinging to the dead body in useless 
tears and grief. 

The Chief and his family sat motionless 
for fifteen or twenty minutes, evidently re- 
gretting what had been done. Then he 
arose, approached the body, and in a tremb- 
ling voice said, "Woman, stop weeping. 
Your husband was a brave man, and like 
a brave, was not afraid to die as the rules 
of our nation demand. We adopt you, your 
children in the place of my son; our lodges 
are open to you, live with any of us. We 
will treat you like our own sons and daugh- 
ters. You shall have our protection and 
love." "Che-qui-ock" (that is right) was 
heard from the assembled Indians, and the 
trial was ended. 



Notes to Canto III 



THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 107 



Note 1. 

"To their village of La Ventum." 
La Ventum — the chief village of the Illi- 
nois Indians, was situated a little over a 
mile below Starved Rock, on a low mound 
on the bottom land. — Parkman: — LaSalle, 
pages 223-4. 

Hennepin counted over 470 lodges in the 
village. 

Note 2. 

"Since the time when Noble Tonty, 

With a mere handful of allies, 

Beat the fierce Five Nations from it." 

In 1683 Tonty was at Starved Rock, hold- 
ing it with a small force; also in 1684-5 
and 6. 

Note 3. 

"There in grandeur stood their haven." 
After the fortifications of 1682-7 and the 
subsequent abandonment of the rock by the 
French, the Indians were accustomed to flee 
to Starved Rock for refuge in times of 
need. 



108 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 

Note 4. 

"To the inner side they hurried, 
Where a pathway steep and narrow, 
Wound its way unto the summits;" 
There is evidence that a great deal of 
debris has accumulated, especially on the 
inner side of Starved Rock, during com- 
paratively recent years. In 1769 'tis likely 
that the rock was more inaccessible than 
today. 

Note 5. 

"The only noises 

Were the whisperings of the breezes. 

Through the spreading cedar branches." 

The center of the rock, when I was there 
in 1892 and '93, was comparatively clear, 
with the exception of two or three good- 
sized oaks. Around the extreme edges 
were quite a large number of cedar trees, 
some of good size. 

Note 6. 

"By the cliff's edge sat the young brave;" 

As a rule an Indian, whether descended 

from a Chief or not, gained his ultimate 

rank and name by virtue of some deed or 



THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 109 

deeds of valor done either in a battle or in 
a foray. Undoubtedly the origin of the 
custom of taking scalps, was simply to have 
proof positive of valor, and to prevent the 
boaster or impostor from gaining equal 
rank with the really brave man. 



Notes to Canto IV 



112 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 

Note 1. 

"Meanwhile on the Rock's high summit, 
Vengeance dire and stern were doing," 
Revenge with the Indian is not only a 
powerful motive for action, but it is a duty. 

Note 2. 

"Still the grasses keep their graves green" 
In many places adjacent to Starved Rock, 
as well as upon the rock itself, — human 
bones are found in great plenty when any 
excavating is attempted. When the hotel 
was built on the inner side of the Rock near 
its base, many skeletons were dug up. On 
the Rock itself I found several human finger 
bones and other fragments in 1892, while 
digging where the sod has been worn away. 



